Category: Uncategorized

The keto diet is similar to the Atkins diet, but its roots go back even farther into dietetics history.

Coconut Veggie Stir Fry

Cauliflower rice, broccoli and squash fill this coconut stir-fry with flavor. The recipe is from a new cookbook called, “Ketotarian.” Contributed by Tamara Muth-King

In the 1920s, scientists theorized that a high-fat, low-carb diet might help children with epilepsy, but now the no-bread, no-potatoes, no-beans diet has has a renaissance with people hoping to find a mix of foods that work well with their body’s metabolism.

This stir-fry also includes pattypan squash, although you could use regular yellow squash or zucchini. The coconut milk, coconut flakes and liquid aminos, such as Bragg, lend lots of umami to this dish, so you don’t miss the meat.

You can use any number of vegetables in this stir-fry, but don’t skip the coconut milk and coconut flakes, which add umami and sweetness. Contributed by Tamara Muth-King

Place the cauliflower in the container of a food processor. Cover and pulse until the cauliflower is finely chopped (about the size of rice). Set aside.

In a large wok, stir-fry the broccoli and squash in the sesame oil over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are crisp-tender. Reduce the heat to medium if the vegetables brown too quickly. Add the onion and stir-fry for 2 minutes more. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl; cover to keep warm.

To the same wok, add the ginger and garlic. Cook and stir over medium-low heat for 30 seconds. Carefully add the coconut milk, liquid aminos, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, or until the sauce is slightly thickened.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the cauliflower rice, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the cauliflower is just tender and starting to brown.

Return the vegetables to the wok. Cook and stir for 1 minute to heat through. Spoon the cauliflower rice evenly onto two serving plates. Top with the broccoli mixture and sauce. Sprinkle with the coconut and cilantro. Serves 2.

Risotto isn’t a dish you think to make at the last minute, unless you have a multicooker.

Before electric pressure cookers (in the form of Instant Pots) started taking over American kitchens, you had to stand by a stove for 30 or 40 minutes to make risotto, slowly stirring liquid into the rice.

Last night, thanks to this new multicooker I’ve been using for the last few weeks, I made risotto while I walked my dog. It really was that fast.

To recap, I bought an Instant Pot, the brand whose name is more familiar to us than the term “multicooker,” and over the past few weeks, I’ve realized that the feature that makes these multicookers so useful is the pressure cooker.

Stove-top and electric pressure cookers — and pressure cooker risotto (and cheesecakes, for that matter) — have been around forever, but none has been as useful as the ones that also allow you to saute, steam and slow cook in the same appliance. Most models allow you to program it to start at a certain time, and some you can turn off or adjust from your phone.

I haven’t used the yogurt function yet, but I can tell you that the multicooker has been handy to make hard-cooked eggs, corn on the cob, broccoli, curried lentils and rice, chicken curry, quinoa, cauliflower mac and cheese, pork ribs, refried beans, chorizo potato salad, rotisserie chicken (and tortilla soup), corn chowder and, finally, risotto.

This creamy Italian rice might already be the dish that sold you on buying a multicooker — it’s certainly the most mentioned dish when I’ve talked with readers online about what they love cooking in their Instant Pots. (It seems like cooks who have a different brand of multicooker still call it an Instant Pot, but maybe parlance will evolve as our cooking habits do.)

Risotto recipes are in every single multicooker cookbook in my house, and they are similar in quantity and method, calling for 1 1/2 cups arborio rice and 3 or 4 cups stock. I found that packages of arborio rice often contain 2 cups of rice, so I adjusted the recipe to fit that quantity. I also preferred to add more liquid at the end to make a slightly creamier risotto, but the consistency of your risotto will depend greatly on the exact heating specifications of your multicooker and how much liquid evaporates during the heating and steam release process.

If you want to add spinach and feta cheese, stir them into the risotto as soon as it has finished cooking and the steam has been released. The spinach will cook in the residual heat. You can freeze leftover risotto and, because the texture won’t be the same as when it was freshly made, you can use it to make a cheesy mashed potato-style side dish or to add as a thickener to a creamy potato soup.

Parmesan Risotto

This risotto cooks for 6 minutes under pressure, but it takes about 12 to 15 minutes for the multicooker to heat up. All in all, you can make this risotto in less time than it takes to walk the dog, which I found out the other night. When the pressure cooker timer is up, the primary heat turns off, but there is still a “warming” function that it defaults to as the steam starts to release naturally. Ideally, you’ll be nearby to manually release — or quick release — the pressure, which will give the risotto an ideal texture and get dinner on the table even faster. With this risotto, I served steamed broccoli and a bacon-wrapped steak cooked in a cast iron skillet.

Press the saute button on the multicooker. Turn heat to medium, if you can adjust it. Heat the olive oil and then add the diced onion. Stir and cook until the onions start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and rice and cook, stirring often, about 3 minutes. Add the wine, if using, to deglaze the bottom of the pot. (If not using wine, use a little of the chicken stock at this step.) Add the rest of the liquid, salt, pepper and thyme, if using.

Turn off the saute function. Place the lid on the multicooker and use the manual program to cook under pressure for 6 minutes. Quick release the pressure and then remove the lid of the multicooker. Remove the pot from the cooker so you can hold onto the edge of it while you stir in the Parmesan cheese and butter. (Removing the pot from the cooker will also keep the rice from continuing to cook as it thickens.)

The rice will thicken as it cools, but you can add a little more stock or Parmesan cheese to thin or thicken the dish before serving.

Hanukkah starts this week, so it’s time to break out the potato shredder.

These latke reubens are a dish from Gail Simmons’ new cookbook, “Bringing it Home.” Contributed by Johnny Miller

Gail Simmons, who was at the Texas Book Festival last month for her new book “Bringing It Home: Favorite Recipes from a Life of Adventurous Eating” (Grand Central Life & Style, $30), uses a food processor to make short work of what can be an arduous task, but the most important step is the one that follows: straining and squeezing the water out of the shredded potatoes. The latkes won’t stay together if you don’t.

In Simmons’ new book, the “Top Chef” judge shares this recipe for latke reubens. Combining two Jewish staples is an apple slaw that goes on top of the pastrami. It’s tossed in an apple cider vinaigrette, a tangy complement to the old school Russian dressing that she seasons with hot sauce and horseradish.

For the slaw: In a large bowl, stir together the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and a generous pinch of pepper. Slowly whisk in the oil until well combined.

Add the cabbage, apple, onion, celery, and dill to the dressing; toss thoroughly to combine. Adjust the seasoning to taste. Let the slaw stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.

For the dressing: In a medium bowl, stir together all of the ingredients. Adjust the hot sauce to taste. The dressing can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

For the latkes: Set a large strainer over a bowl. In a food processor fitted with the shredding disk, shred the potatoes and onion in batches. Add each batch to the strainer and let stand for 5 minutes, then squeeze dry. Pour off the liquid and rinse the bowl, then add the shredded potato mixture. Stir in the flour, eggs, dill, baking powder and 1 ½ teaspoons salt. Scrape the mixture back into the strainer and set it over the bowl again; let stand for another 5 minutes.

In a large skillet, heat ¼ inch of canola oil over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches, spoon a scant ¼ cup of the potato mixture into the hot oil for each latke, pressing slightly to flatten. Fry over moderate heat, turning once, until the latkes are golden and crisp on both sides, about 7 minutes. Drain the latkes on a paper towel–lined baking sheet. Season well with salt.

To assemble: Spread about 1 teaspoon of the dressing on each latke. Top with a folded slice of pastrami and a heaping tablespoon of the slaw. Garnish with dill and serve. Makes 3 dozen.

You could use any kind of winter squash in this dish from Davis Tanis’ new book, “Davis Tanis Market Cooking.” Contributed by Evan Sung

Hubbard Squash with Parmesan and Brown Butter

I can’t think of much that wouldn’t be good with Parmesan and brown butter, actually, but the combination is especially good with roasted winter squash. Use leftovers for a baked pasta — layer the squash with rigatoni or penne cooked firmly al dente, and then shower with grated cheese and bread crumbs.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the squash slices in a large bowl, season with salt and black pepper, and drizzle with enough olive oil to coat. Toss the squash with your hands to distribute the seasoning, then transfer to two baking sheets and spread out the slices. Roast until the squash is cooked through and the edges are browned here and there, about 15 minutes. (You can roast the squash up to 3 hours in advance and hold it at room temperature.)

Arrange the squash on a warm platter or on individual plates, then quickly make the brown butter sauce: Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add the crushed red pepper and sage, season with a little salt and black pepper, and whisk the butter and aromatics as the butter begins to bubble and brown. When the butter is foamy and nutty-smelling, in a minute or so, spoon it over the squash. Garnish with a few arugula leaves or chopped parsley and use a sharp vegetable peeler to shave Parmesan over the squash. Serve with lemon wedges.

Usually, memberships cost between $45-$100, and the Arkansas-based store announced this week that people can shop without a membership in McAllen, San Antonio, Harlingen, Brownsville, Laredo and Corpus Christi.

Some Sam’s Clubs in Austin are allowing people to shop for emergency supplies even without a membership. This photo is from a 2015 shopping spree at a Sam’s Club in Austin that allowed the Austin Police Department to give gifts to local families in need. JAY JANNER / AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Even though Austin isn’t technically on the list, a manager at the location on Ben White said that they would be happy to help hurricane shoppers stock up on supplies if they need it.

As the city fills up with evacuees, I imagine that all three Austin locations will also allow you to grab emergency supplies over the next few days. There are lots of folks coming to Austin who might not have many grocery options when they head back home, so don’t take more than you need.

The shadows formed by the trees were probably the most delightful surprise in this 95 percent totality zone, but I’m enjoying seeing all the Instagram photos that you took using other devices capture this moment in history.

You can use a colander to see the solar eclipse on the ground. Contributed by @mullet_baby

Despite all the coverage ahead of time, I hadn’t heard about the trick to use a colander — you know, that strainer you use to drain pasta — to make a bunch of small eclipses, but now I’m seeing lots of photos from people who used them earlier this afternoon.

But the best pinhole eclipse shadow photo I’ve seen all day came from Twitter, where Sara Kate W posted her discovery: Saltine crackers work even better than the pinhole camera you might build from the box.

The tiny holes in the crackers are just big enough to allow the shape of the sun to come through so you can see the eclipse action.

Cochon 555 returns to Austin this weekend, but this year, the event is adding a food summit the day before to encourage education and dialogue around how food moves and why it matters. Contributed by Cochon 555

Cochon 555 will take place at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Four Seasons, but the day before at Contigo, 2027 Anchor Lane, you can hear presentations from some of Austin’s leading food thought leaders, including keynote speaker Rachel Laudan.

Laudan, the food historian and author of “Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History,” has lived and worked on five continents and now resides in Austin, and she’ll be talking about how food movement has affected the development of not only cuisine, but also politics, war and society.

Author and food historian Rachel Laudan, who lives in Austin, will give the keynote at this year’s Bespoke.

The second keynote will come from Robert McKeown, a former Gourmet magazine Asia correspondent and Oxford Food symposiast, who will talk about what he called “culinary worlding” and Filipino food.

Following McKeown’s presentation, Fiore Tedesco of L’Oca D’Oro, Sam Hellman-Mass of the upcoming restaurant Suerte and Farmhouse Delivery owner Stephanie Scherzer will sit on a panel about to talk about issues of diversity, labor and power in the food industry. Attendees will get a chance to then rotate through small roundtable discussions with each of the guests, which is meant to foster engagement and discourse beyond ordinary Q&A format.

The summit will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tickets to Bespoke cost $55 for students with an ID or $75 for general admission, and they include a ramen lunch bar from Peached Tortillas. You can find them here.

Cochon 555 is a nationally touring event that started in 2008 to educate consumers about heritage pigs, the agricultural importance of utilizing Old World livestock and how they can support family farmers raising these specialty breeds.

The Quesoff, Austin’s biggest queso celebration, returns on August 26 at the Mohawk, 912 Red River. From 2 to 5 p.m., more than 30 local business and competitive cooking teams will compete with their best cheese dips.

More than 30 teams will compete for the prestigious Quesoff title. Contributed by Jessica Alexander

At this seventh annual event, entry is free with a donation of two canned goods or a $2 donation per person, and the proceeds benefit the Central Texas Food Bank. Note that bags of chips will be available for purchase for $5, and you cannot bring your own.

Organizer Adi Anand says that for the first time this year, they’ll also have a Say Queso photo-booth as well as the mariacheese band Mariachi Relámpago, along with returning resident DJ Johnny Hottub.

My biggest complaints have been that they are expensive and not environmentally friendly. I’m not paying $8 or $12 per serving for a meal unless someone else is cooking it, and those bulky boxes weighed down with ice packs are so heavy to deliver to my doorstep.

These ingredients for sweet potato bao buns came in a recent Purple Carrot delivery. It’s a dish I never would have made for myself, but the meal kit introduced me to different flavor combinations and techniques. Addie Broyles / American-Statesman

When I opened a recent delivery from Purple Carrot, the vegan meal kit company that recently expanded to Austin, I saw even more of the little bottles and jars and bags that are a convenience weighing on my conscious. The ingredients looked fresh, except for the spring greens (above) for one of the meals that I could see hadn’t fared well during the long journey to my office.

This kit contained the recipes for three two-serving meals: Sweet potato bao buns with kimchi, peaches, spring greens and lemon aioli; miso tofu with soba noodles, shishito peppers and beans; and cauliflower steaks with zucchini-poblano sauce and pistachio dukkah. Twenty years ago, I probably wouldn’t have known what half of those ingredients were, but they certainly meet today’s food standards.

I made the meal that looked the most interesting first, that sweet potato tempura served on those soft bao buns. As with all the meals, the cooking time took longer than the card stated, but I didn’t mind because I was frying batch after batch of thinly sliced sweet potatoes, a vegetable I had not yet cooked in a tempera batter. With the weird but delicious smell of kimchi and peaches behind me, I stood at the stove in awe of my abilities. (I forget that I’m a food writer sometimes.)

I was gaining a new skill as I turned each orange round, learning little lessons about how much batter should be on each slice, how hot the oil should be, when is the perfect time to flip. Even though I like them, I never buy those steamed bao buns, and I’d certainly never thought to combine kimchi and peaches. The spring greens that came with the kit went into the trash, and I replaced them with a handful of arugula. By the time I was ready to eat, I felt like I could open a food truck serving these sandwiches.

That meal left me feeling virtuous. I’d added a new dish to my roster. I could recreate this recipe another time, and my culinary life is better for it.

The same is true of the zucchini-poblano sauce I made a few nights later. After sauteeing the zucchini and pepper in a skillet, you add it to a blender and make this thick, nutrient dense sauce that added so much flavor to the cauliflower steaks. (The leftover sauce complemented the chicken tostadas we made later in the week.) You could follow that similar technique with so many vegetables to create a bright, healthy sauce to toss with pasta or serve alongside a seared piece of meat.

The ingredients for a miso soba noodle dish came in lot of small bottles, jars and plastic bags. Meal kit companies are trying to cut down on their packaging, but it still feels wasteful. Addie Broyles / American-Statesman

My doubts returned, however, by the time I got to the final meal. I love tofu and was surprised to see a slightly different cooking technique than the one I use, where you sear the tofu first and then toss with the sauce. (I almost always marinade mine first.) But that excitement waned as I started to get bogged down in the steps to make the two (very similar) sauces and instructions that called for making the soba noodles long before you actually needed to.

The recipe was also vague in several key places, including how much of the soba noodles to cook — the package they sent included four-and-a-half servings, but the recipe is only supposed to serve two — and what to do with the shishitos after they steamed. This dish also yielded too much trash. Three little plastic bottles and three plastic jars doesn’t seem like much, but when I start to think about millions’ of meals worth of these plastic bottles, I cringe. I’d prefer one bottle with an already mixed miso, vinegar and sesame sauce, but maybe I’m in the minority here.

UPDATE: The company responded with a comment about my comment on waste:

Since they are a plant-based meal kit company (and plant-based eating is actually the fastest way to reduce your carbon footprint), Purple Carrot consistently works to make their packaging reusable, recyclable, biodegradable, or compostable. For example, they recently reduced their box size by 38%, and all of the materials used in their packaging are made from post-consumer waste.

This miso soba noodle dish turned out well, but it took a little longer than expected and the directions could use a little editing. In general, however, I enjoyed Purple Carrot, and it helped me realize that meal kits can help infuse your cooking with new creativity. Addie Broyles / American-Statesman

What I did learn from cooking these meals is that meal kits really are a path toward culinary discovery. The companies try to sell them as an easy fix to get dinner on the table, but I haven’t found them to be 30 minutes or less or, to be frank, anything my kids would eat.

But now I understand that you’re not supposed to order meals you already know how to cook or dishes that include ingredients you’re already familiar with. The hundreds, if not thousands, of meals available through these companies, including Blue Apron, Hello Fresh and Plated, are almost like a try-it-before-you-buy-it program for new ingredients or new meals that you might one day cook on a regular basis.

At $10 per serving, that’s a pretty expensive experiment, but if you have a wide palate and deep curiosity, the once-a-quarter meal kit is an excellent way to plant some new seeds for the next time you’re in the grocery store. You can’t debate the convenience of having pre-measured ingredients show up at your door, but I still have reservations about ordering these kits on a weekly basis. When grocery stores get the hang of developing the recipes and marketing the kits (and bringing down the price), I will absolutely be buying them more.

This pound cake is a recipe most bakers will want to have in their collections. She pairs it with strawberries, a classic combination that’s hard to beat, but you could try with peaches, raspberries or blackberries.

This pound cake is a classic Southern dessert that you can serve with all kinds of berries, but especially strawberries. Contributed by Angie Mosier

Classic Southern Pound Cake with Strawberries

“Southern pound cake — it’s the first thing I learned to cook,” author Lucy Buffett told us in a recent interview. “Anybody in the South who went to their grandmother’s house knows, there was always a cake, some kind of cake, and something on the stove. With this cake, you almost want to undercook it a little bit. It’s buttery and hot and when it comes out of the oven. When anyone takes a bite of it, they just groan.”

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a 10-inch tube pan (a tube pan is preferred, but if you use a Bundt pan instead, you’ll need to make sure to leave 1 inch of space at the top of the pan, so you may end up with a small amount of leftover batter).

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the sugar over the sliced strawberries. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve the cake.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the remaining 3 cups sugar, ½ cup at a time, and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, starting and finishing with the flour mixture. Add the vanilla and mix to incorporate.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn the cake out onto the rack to cool completely. Serve each piece with a spoonful of the chilled strawberries and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. Serves 12 to 16.

Fresh whipped cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons sugar

Place a medium metal bowl in the freezer to chill.

When ready to prepare the whipped cream, place the cream and vanilla in the chilled bowl. With an electric mixer, whip the cream on medium speed, gradually adding the sugar. The cream will begin to thicken.

Whip the cream until it begins to form stiff peaks. Be careful not to overwhip or the cream will separate.

Posts navigation

About the Author

Hailing from the Ozarks, Addie Broyles expanded her cooking (and eating) skills on the West Coast and Spain before settling in Austin, where she has written about food for the Austin American-Statesman since 2008. The University of Missouri graduate has won numerous awards for her writing and her blog, Relish Austin, which is also the name of her weekly column in the Statesman. Addie is a founder of the Austin Food Bloggers Alliance, a nonprofit organization made up of more than 100 Central Texas food bloggers, and editor of “The Austin Food Blogger Alliance Cookbook.” When she’s not chasing after her two young sons, Addie blogs about being a working mom, part-time quilter and wannabe world traveler at thefeministkitchen.com.